A star is beautiful; it affords pleasure, not from what it is to do, or to give, but simply by being what it is. It befits the heavens; it has congruity with the mighty space in which it dwells. It has repose; no force disturbs its eternal peace. It has freedom; no obstruction lies between it and infinity.

Man, it is not thy works, which are mortal, infinitely little, and the greatest no greater than the least, but only the spirit thou workest in, that can have worth or continuance.

Democracy is, by the nature of it, a self-canceling business: and gives in the long run a net result of zero.

The highest ensign that men ever met and embraced under, the Cross itself, had no meaning save an accidental extrinsic one.

My books are friends that never fail me.

In private life I never knew anyone interfere with other people's disputes but he heartily repented of it.

Cherish what is dearest while you have it near you, and wait not till it is far away. Blind and deaf that we are; oh, think, if thou yet love anybody living, wait not till death sweep down the paltry little dust clouds and dissonances of the moment, and all be made at last so mournfully clear and beautiful, when it is too late.